Cast Away
by Reckless1
Summary: With SHinji imprisioned inside Unit-01, a futile rescue attempt is made. The pilot is declared officially dead, and everyone's lives are changed by that event.


V 1.0

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Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Studio GAINAX animation, not me. Should it be requested, I will remove this story from the internet. Thank you.

//Studio C.S.C. – Presents://

//A Reckless FanFiction//

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Cast Away

By Reckless

Asuka Langley Sohryu got up like she did every day. Yawned like she did every day. Went to her bathroom like she did every day. And remembered like she did every day, pretending he didn't matter.

Misato Katsuragi woke up from her beer-induced sleep like she did every day. Cursed herself like she did every day. And pretended that everything was all right, like she did every day.

Rei Ayanami got up like she did every day. Dressed up like she did every day. And like every day, she thought: _Ikari-kun._

Kaworu Nagisa waited, like he did every day. He simply waited.

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CAST AWAY: CHAPTER 1 - YESTERDAY

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**//Tokyo-3 – year of 2015//**

The bridge crew, and those around watched intently, some with disgust, some with fear, the horrid scene in front of them.

Major Misato Katsuragi stared, dumbfounded. "It's eating the Angel!"

Doctor Ritsuko Akagi was one of the few who stood impassibly. "Those bindings allowed us to control it. It is now free. The beast inside Unit 01 is free."

The purple titan tore the Angel's flesh out of its body, eyes glinting with an unholy fire. Those who watched would forever remember the sound of the roar that the giant emitted in triumph. As the bizarre show went on, several people fought the urge to throw up. Some did not succeed.

Not far from there, a man shared the view with NERV's employees. With a stern look on his face, he voiced his thoughts. "Unit 01 is awakened at last. SEELE sure won't stay quiet about this.

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**Caption: THE FIRST DAY**

Maya Ibuki looked at the mummified giant that stood inside the cage. She couldn't forget the thoughts of the last day, when said titan, after successfully defeating its enemy, ate it. The scene was terrible, horrid. Maya couldn't bring herself to remember it, but neither she could forget it entirely.

The young technician turned her attention towards the analysis of the beast, in hope of focusing her mind in things other than the bizarre spectacle of the prior day.

"The Damage sustained by Unit-01 is well beyond the Henflick limit, sempai."

Doctor Akagi nodded in understanding, while sipping from her coffee mug. "Yes, Maya." She said, eyeing her assistant. "It may be a while before we can restore things to normal." She turned back to her mug, sipping continuously.

Maya pondered for a second in what she had just said, and her face converted into an expression of relief. "Fortunately, the MAGI system can be moved elsewhere." She stopped a while and estimated the time for such a complicated operation. "We may be able to start working as early as tomorrow morning."

Maya stopped for a brief moment, eyeing a presence that had entered her line of sight. Technician Shigeru Aoba had a look of concern on his face. Kind of like the one she would get when she heard the news.

"Doctor Akagi, Lieutenant Ibuki!" He panted, with extreme difficulty. The doctor turned at once to face him, meeting his face with a puzzled look.

"Doctor, we've been running scans on Unit-01! There's no sign whatsoever of the Pilot inside of the EVA!"

"What?!" The doctor and her assistant replied in unison, looking dumbfounded.

"Here, follow me!" The man said, motioning to a set of stairs that would lead them directly to the catwalk behind the Mecha's head, where the tests were being conducted. As soon as she came to a halt, the doctor said, in what would be, in any other circumstance, an unnecessarily loud volume: "I want a report on my hand, right now!" Before she finished the sentence, a person was already headed to her, with a small file of about four pages on hands. This person happened to be the third technician of the main bridge crew: Makoto Hyouga.

"Who authorized this?" The doctor said harshly, while flipping through the report.

The answer came promptly, from the last voice she expected to hear: "I did." As she looked up with haste, her eyes were level with a pair of tinted lenses. Gendo Ikari regarded her with the same emotionless expression of always. "Carry on." He ordered, and left. He walked a few steps, and added, without looking back: "I wish to see you in my office today, doctor. We have matters to look after."

Ritsuko resumed her task of flipping through the file, or as much as she could, in her obviously disturbed state of mind.

[Primary findings of research team: Subject – Unit 01]

(...)Unit-01 has suffered severe damage in the left arm section, but shows no apparent problems with the re-grown limb. No Angel contamination whatsoever was detected, from the arm the Unit salvaged from the Angel. A more interesting note is that the contents it has eaten appear to be part of, if not a full S2 organ. The way the Unit has incorporated the compound to its internal anatomy requires further study.(...)

(...)The most interesting of these facts, is, however, the disappearance of the designated pilot, Ikari Shinji. Pilot Ikari was reported to have achieved a 400% synchronization rate during the battle. The re-activation of the Evangelion Unit, even after the power cable had been severed and the internal batteries had been exhausted may be due to this abnormal rate of synchronization. The research team has found no traces of the pilot inside the LCL contained within the Unit's entry plug. Test logs of ten years ago show that a similar phenomenon has already occurred, and nothing has been heard from the pilot since then. As the logs state that the prior pilot of the Evangelion Unit 01 has been officially declared deceased, the commander has issued the research team authority to do so, in case of not retrieving Pilot Ikari in a deadline of five days.(...)

(...)Unit's current status: unable to operate.  
Pilot's current status: Unknown/Missing.

This team has no further findings of importance. Any finding is classified level 4 of clearance, and is to be forwarded either to Commander Ikari, Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki or Doctor Akagi.

[End of Report.]

Ritsuko lowered the report and just stared at the air. _Misato's not going to be happy, _She thought. "Maya, you're in charge. I want scans conducted inside of the entry plug. Any abnormal readings are to be reported to me, you understand?"

The brown-haired technician issued a nod as her response.

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**"When is Major Katsuragi to be informed of this?" The doctor asked, unable to hide her anger.**

"The Major will be notified tomorrow, when the official report is issued." Gendo Ikari replied, between his hands.

"Very well, then. Do you wish anything else, Ikari?"

"No. You may go, doctor. Just make sure that any orders you have issued to your subordinates, especially lieutenant Ibuki, whom I believe to hold special affection towards you, as to refer to you, instead of me, with information regarding the current status of Unit-01, are suspended." Gendo couldn't suppress a slight smirk at the end of the statement. One that went unnoticed to the doctors' eyes, as she was standing a dozen feet away from him. The position of his hands also helped to hide the expression.

"Y- Yes, Sir." Was all that the doctor could manage.

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Caption: THE SECOND DAY

It had been a whole day. A day Misato Katsuragi would rather forget. But, ironically, one she would not forget easily. It hadn't been the first time she doubted herself as a suitable guardian for a person as unique as Shinji. It was the first, though, that she felt entirely drowned in despair. Her dry sobs filled the room once more.

"Shinji-kun... Shinji-kun... Where is him? Where's my Shinji? I want him back... I want him back! I WANT HIM BACK!!!"

Had the other resident of the small apartment been human, he'd be comforting her. But Pen-Pen wasn't human. He couldn't possibly understand.

"God damn you, Ritsuko. Damn you for playing god. Damn you too, Ikari. Damn you all to hell. I want him back."

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The blue Renault arrived with unnatural haste. Unnatural for someone who was not Misato Katsuragi, a woman feared for being in control of a destructive force that could envelop the planet in flames more than once. A woman also feared for her unorthodox driving skills. This was not the case today. Misato's look did not sport that glare of inspiration. It was empty, gazing into the nothingness. Her smile was false, as well. It was a smile she would carry for a long time, along with her will to pretend things were all right. But if someone looked deep inside her eyes, would find a certain resemblance to the look of a person that lost its most valued possession.

She entered the secondary command center, and greeted the technicians with a short nod. The looks on their faces, save Hyuga's, which enlightened every time he saw the Major, silently informed her that no progress had been made. Lieutenant Ibuki paused her analysis and stood up, heading in the Major's direction.

"Major, we've had no conclusive progress in the analy-"

"Meaning that?" Misato cut her short, not really minding the answer. She already knew what it was going to be.

The tech resumed her phrase after a short moment. "Meaning that..." She looked down "Meaning that there is little or no chance of us recovering him in the deadline stipulated by the research team. Have you been informed of that, Major?"

Misato looked up, trying to hide the tears that were welling up in her eyes for the fiftieth time in that day. She had cried in her home. She had cried in the car. She had cried in the corridor. Now she'd cry again, in front of everyone. "T- The d- deadline? I've b- been informed of that, yes."

Maya tried to meet her in the eye, but seeing that the Major would not allow them to see the tears, she could not face her properly. She looked down, and said nothing.

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Kaji Ryouji did not appreciate his work some times. He joined NERV to get to know the truth. Like always, he was far from his objective, let alone shaping it. All he could do was watch. But the idea of talking about this matter, and not touching the subject of the boy disgusted him. When he was sure he had the commander's attention, he voiced, with certain sarcasm: "My, my what a completely unexpected situation, Ikari. I trust you already have a speech prepared to explain this to the comit- I mean, to SEELE."

Ikari eyed him hardly through his lenses. "There isn't anything to explain, agent Ryouji. Unit-01 is to remain frozen until further order."

_This is a good moment to introduce Shinji in the conversation... _"But I believe your son is still trapped inside it?" He stopped, drawing breath to gain courage. Kaji Ryouji considered himself a brave man. But even the bravest of men has to draw breath before saying something that can, in the slightest, irritate Gendo Ikari. "I believe that there was an incident such as that, ten years ago, aboard Unit-01. Is this the truth behind a 400% sync rate?"

Ikari let out a small chuckle, only to hide his extreme awe in the fact that the agent possessed such an information. "You are dismissed, Agent Ryouji."

"Yes, Sir."

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Caption: THE THIRD DAY

A certain redhead was angry. No news, since she was most of the time. But this time it was too much. Not only Wonderwhore had survived, but Shinji also managed to beat her and save the day. Against an enemy she couldn't even scratch. Drowned in her own madness, the girl could only think about how Shinji, the great invincible Shinji, had saved the day.

"I can't believe it. I couldn't do anything." For the first time, those words echoed around Asuka Langley Sohryu's brain. And for the very first time, they were true. There was nothing that she could have done. "On the other hand," she added, on a much more 'cheerful' thought, "The baka may very well not come back."  
  
For the first time, a small voice that would plague Asuka's mind for years to come, answered that thought, "Yes. It just would just be better if you didn't want him to come back."

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"What do you mean, we can salvage Shinji?" Misato asked, with a small glint of hope in her eyes, even though that plan sounded crazy.

"Shinji's life force still resides within the entry plug. We have captured abnormal readings on the LCL and we believe that what was once Shinji's body still exists there, as well as his soul." Ritsuko explained, flipping absent mindedly through some charts, looking to find something of real importance. She frowned every now and then, never stopping to pay more attention to one single comment. But the whole report seemed of importance.

"What's that?" Misato asked, trying to probe the contents from behind the blonde's shoulder.

"This." Ritsuko explained, closing the file, and then motioning to it. "Is all the data we need to salvage him back." She added, standing up. Misato's response to this was a slight frown, followed by an opening mouth. Ritsuko foresaw the question and answered it beforehand. "There has been another accident like that onboard the same Unit."

Misato's face darkened at the use of the word 'accident' _That was no accident. They knew what was going to happen and they still carried on. _"What happened?" She asked, not really eager to receive the answer.

"They tried the same thing we're doing now. They didn't succeed."

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Kouzou Fuyutsuki looked rather concerned. He was. He didn't sleep properly for the last three days, and was having trouble to convince Ikari of the correct measures to take in a situation such as that.

"We did not predict Unit-01 salvaging the S2 core, Ikari. Don't try to convince me of the contrary. Don't try, also to deny that Ryouji was right. His approach may not have been the best, touching that nerve, but you owe him an explanation, perhaps." 

Gendo Ikari slowly readjusted the bridge of his glasses, pondered for a second, and issued his answer: "I owe him nothing. As for the matter of the core, we'll wait for the old men's reaction."

_Some day, playing this game will be your doom, Ikari. Some day, you'll play your cards wrong, and I don't want to be here to see it. _Was all that the elder man could think.

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Caption: THE FOURTH DAY

Shinji Ikari felt heavy and light at the same time. Heavy as if in a stupor, but light as a feather, for he was flowing. A better word to describe it would be numb. Shinji was numb.

"Where am I? What is this? Entry plug of Unit-01? But where am I? I'm not here. Who are these people?" He said, as his mind was flooded with images of his friends, his father, and his co-workers. "This is my world. But I'm not here." He paused, as an image froze in his mind. "The Angels. We fight the Angels. It's our revenge? Why do we fight?" he futilely tried to carry on these thoughts, but was promptly interrupted by the image of a boy no older that seven, standing on a playground's sandbox. The boy had chestnut-colored hair, and blue eyes. The boy's name was Shinji Ikari. Himself. Standing in front of this young Shinji was anther young boy, who apparently was older, by few months. "Rei? This boy looks so much like Rei. He has red eyes, and gray hair. And he's so pale. But he's smiling. Rei doesn't smile." Although voicing his comments had the purpose of trying to help his reasoning, he didn't expect either of the children to notice. He was thankful they didn't. 

The boy walked closer to the younger version of himself, still carrying that faint smile on his face. It was a good smile. Not a grin, a smile. The boy approached him, and said:

"So, you are Shinji Ikari?" He gazed into the young Shinji's eyes, never loosing that smile. The older Shinji was surprised to conclude that his voice was cheerful, and not monotone, as Rei's _But, then again, Rei doesn't smile._

"How- How do you know my name? And what's yours?" The child Shinji replied.

"My name is Kaworu Nagisa. I just know your name. Just that. We will meet. That's how I know your name."

"We will meet? But then you shouldn't know me. Should you?" The child paused for a second. Gaining eye contact for the first time, and being unable to suppress a small gasp of shock. "Why- why are your eyes red?"

The boy ignored him for a moment. Then sat down on the sand, gazing into the horizon. After a moment, during which the child Shinji looked at him hoping for an answer, he looked as if he were reflecting upon something. He suddenly stood up, and looked Shinji right in the eyes.

"We shall meet again, Shinji. Use this meeting as a prelude of what's to come. You already know of me, now. Use that knowledge. It'll help you to choose." He turned away, and started walking, receiving no protest from the younger Shinji, who couldn't understand the meaning of his last statement. With that, the older Shinji realized that that last warning was directed at him.

"I want to go home now." The younger Shinji said. "Where's my mom?" Nagisa, by then, was quite distanced from the child Shinji, but, yet, his voice didn't sound like a shout: "Your mother is here, Shinji." As his vision faded, the older Shinji remembered to think of his friends, his family, even wonder if he was dying. But when he heard his mother's voice, the warm sensation enveloped him, and he felt no more.

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Caption: THE FIFTH DAY

The anxiety in the bridge was nearly palpable. Three coffee mugs had already been shattered that day, a record that would be kept for long. Fingers flew on the keyboards, tapping entry sequences, codes, making mistakes often. Everyone was nervous. Doctor Akagi most of all. All, except Major Katsuragi. The Major had cried several times that day, and wasn't willing to cry more. To keep her mind occupied, she divided the command with Ritsuko, although her severely limited computer skills made the actual second commander of the "Salvage Operation" Lieutenant Maya Ibuki.

"Wow, Sempai! It's impressive that you've gathered all this data in just five days." Maya said, in a futile attempt to cheer the blonde. Ritsuko had been living on a caffeine diet for the last five days, and , while it was, yes, impressive that she gathered the data in such a short time, there was no other way than the non-stop working routine she imposed herself.

_Maya's so naive... She's so idealistic. She still thinks that NERV's about saving the world... _"I'll tell you what, Maya:" She took yet another sip from the mug, a pause that was becoming more and more frequent everyday. "If we had, say, twenty days more, the chance of success would be of 87% instead of the weak 67% we have now. Besides, most of the data is from ten years ago."

Maya received that information with interest, replying quickly, without hesitation. "But, sempai, if the chances of success are so unsatisfactory, why don't you ask the team for a longer deadline? And what happened ten years ago, sempai?"

"Because, Maya," The blonde replied, turning away from the coffee mug and facing the other woman. "the research team's only a cover-up. The order was issued by Ikari. As for ten years ago, they did the very same thing we're trying now. They didn't succeed." As soon as she finished the sentence, she quickly went back to her business, leaving the technician staring at her back., wondering what would lead a person to give his own son a chance that he knew, wasn't enough.

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"All of the probes have been inserted!"

"Electromagnetic radius has been set at 0-3!"

Hearing the rest of the staff giving their go's for the operation, Maya Ibuki joined the chorus of voices, proclaiming her own system to be green and ready to go: "Ego-border pulse connection is complete."

_This is it. _"I- Initiate salvage operation." Ritsuko couldn't hide her fear of what would happen if the operation failed. _Damn that bastard, Ikari! Had he given us a little bit more time, I wouldn't be so nervous. _"Everyone stand by!" The doctor added, this time with more confidence, fulfilling her objective of calming the crew. Or so she thought. "Initiate program!"

Makoto Hyouga, upon hearing the doctors instructions, inserted a few commands on his keyboards. "Initiating program. Transmitting first signal!"

The other male integrant of the main bridge crew, Shigeru Aoba, replied: "Signal Received, no rejection."

"Proceed to send the second and third signals." Maya commanded.

"Subject catharsis is normal."

_Here we go. _Was Ritsuko's last thought before all hell broke loose.

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Shinji Ikari felt like waking up. The start of a morning, after a tiring day. The sensation experienced by him, wasn't that of broadening of the senses, and of a sharpened mind. If he hadn't been interrupted at that moment, he would notice he was still inside the dream. Everything was outlined with white, and his line of sight was clearly shortened by a foggy haze. Shinji did not pay attention immediately to these facts, his mind focused on finding out where he was. "Uh. Where-"

Where? Where was too small of a definition. He was everywhere and nowhere, at the same time. He could see himself, but he was nothing but a pale shade. He felt dispersed, floating, fading. 

A vision of Asuka, in her usual bad mood disturbed his train of thought. "Stupid Shinji!"

"Uh, but-"

Doctor Akagi appeared, out of nowhere, to greet him. "Shinji Ikari."

"What is go-"

The series would likely go on, he thought, when an image of his mother appeared. Yui's face lightened with joy, at the sight of her son: "Shinji, don't you want to stay here with me? Don't you want to be happy forever? Away from the pain, away from EVA?"

The very last thought of the youth, before his vision faded was, "Mother?"

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"Sempai! Pulse inversion! The EVA's rejecting the signal, ego-border collapsing!" Maya Ibuki said, frantically, while quickly typing commands to counter the situation. "This is wrong, Sempai! At this stage it should be frozen into a loop, or regaining contour!"

"Try to irradiate waves from all directions! Invert the pulse again, maybe that'll work!" Ritsuko half shouted while running to the nearest terminal, to keep up with the pace of the events.

"What the--? The irradiated eff- STOP! It's going to pulse invert, and then it's gonna go berserk!" Ritsuko madly typed all known strain of counter commands to the MAGI, in an effort to stop the operation.

"Abort operation! Abort!"

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[Research team findings – Post Salvage operation: Subject – Unit – 01]

(...)The condition of the LCL has reverted to normal. There is no trace of the Pilot inside the unit, save for his plug suit, retrieved for analysis purposes. There is no abnormality in the scanning of Unit – 01, except for the obvious damage sustained in the battle against the fourteenth Angel.(...)

(...)The LCL which once contained the Pilot is stored for further analysis. Location is restricted beyond clearance level 6. The research team believes that further improvement in the sensors' capability may expand their scanning capabilities, and enable us, in the future, to determine, whether there is or not any trace of the Pilot left in the LCL(...)

(...)Pilot designation for Unit – 01 will be done in time. No sign to who will pilot said Unit.(...)

(...)Unit Status: Operational in 20-40 days.(estimated)

Pilot Status: Deceased.

[End of Report.]

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//Tokyo-3 - year of 2018//

Colonel Katsuragi looked through the enormous stack of clothing, trying to find her old, worn up red flight jacket. She did not succeed.

"Asuka! Have you seen my jacket?" She said, her tone not as loud as it use to be. _I'm getting old _Misato thought. 

The redhead poked her face out of her room, looking annoyed. "God damn, Misato! Can't you take care of your things?" She then got out of the room, proceeding immediately for the kitchen, hoping that Misato didn't get up early, for a change, and made coffee. _I smell no dead things. No brimstone. No, she didn't do it. _As she entered, the small kitchen, though, she came face to face with a small mound of beer cans, scattered at every possible place. "Wouldn't surprise me if her jacket was underneath this." She voiced, probably to Pen-Pen, who had just gotten out of his fridge. With a look of extreme disgust, she started picking the cans up, one by one, and throwing them inside the trash can. _I didn't have to do this when he was still... No, he IS... Present tense! Present tense! I can't go down this again. Gotta stop. Focus, Asuka, focus. _As she resumed her task, however, the telephone rang.

"Asuka, pick it up! I'm kinda busy right now!" Misato's voice was heard, from deep within her room.

"Sure!" The redhead replied, absent-mindedly wiping her hand on a nearby rag. _It's probably Hikari, calling me for tomorrow night. Or maybe Kaworu._

Asuka Langley Sohryu had never fainted before, save aboard her EVA, and even then, they were few. Misato Katsuragi knew of this, and called an ambulance, as soon as she saw the redhead's limp body on the ground, the headset firmly grasped in her hand, and a serene look on her face. Misato panicked, which was becoming more usual to her, specially in the last three years. The thought of losing her "daughter" was unbearable. She had gone through that. She didn't want to go through it again. It was only when she had guaranteed that the ambulance was under way, that she had the idea to grab the phone in the girl's hand.

"Asuka! Asuka!!! Are you there?! Damn!" Maya's familiar voice rang on the other side. "Asuka! Asu-" The former technician, no head of Bioengineering section of NERV, former project-E was cut short by Misato's unnaturally fast tone of voice.

"Maya! Maya! What's happening?" The Major paused for breath, but the sentence she intended to voice would never be completed, as the other woman spoke first.

"He's back! Misato, he's back!"

Misato didn't even have to ask who was 'he'. When the paramedic crew arrived, they found her carrying the most pure smile that she'd ever shown, in all her 32 years of life.

Shinji was back. 

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To Be Continued.

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A/N: Well, there you go. Naturally, the strangeness will be explained in the next chapter, so buckle up. Obviously, I hope you liked it, and, if you did, send me an e-mail at lukederrigan@msn.com . Updates will be posted here at FFN, and at my site.

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Special Thanks: Pre-readers were Athos and Kensiro-san. Thanks to you both!


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